All Forum Posts by: Chris Matthew

In my area SFH prices have skyrocketed. Multi-family homes are sitting in the market at slightly inflated prices. Folk are gun shy about taking on rentals right now due to the eviction moratoriums that just expired. It's been impossible to find empty houses and there has been no way of getting the tenants out when purchasing. I bought a 4-plex in Nov 2019 and was able to file an eviction petition in court this week finally. Other investors in my area have hotness the brakes. There have been virtually no rehab opportunities since you can't get the tenants out.

I’m looking forward to the next few months when evictions are possible again.

Good luck!

There is no restrictions on them applying again and further kicking the protection out another 13-14 months. (12 from payment, and the three to four months processing time)

I had two tenants apply for ERAP. One application took 4 months to be reviewed. I was paid. I had no option to opt out or refuse payment.  Apparently I can return the money but I was unable to find a mechanism to do so.  I even sent a note in with my documents explaining that I wished for the case to be resolved quickly as these are nuisance tenants creating a safety hazard. At the time, once an application was submitted for ERAP any and all eviction proceedings were stayed until the application was determined.  Once the tenant Ian approved, they are awarded protections.  No raising of rent for a year, no evictions for a year.  That’s has since been modified.  Under ERAP,  evictions are only allowable if it isn’t a four family’s unit or smaller and solely for the purpose of the owner or immediate family’s member immediate occupancy.  There is no provision for evictions for any other reason.  In order for me to evict, I have to move into the unit immediately.

My second tenant, I had served a thirty day notice to evict for reasons, I wished to renovate the unit.  The court would not accept my petition because of the moratorium on evictions.  The tenants decided to stop paying since I was evicting them.  Since that time, they are three months behind and filed for ERAP.  They continue to work and have not experienced any covid hardship.  They have been notified there is additional documentation needed by them to complete the review.  They are now intentionally not turning in the paperwork because they know they are protected by the pending ERAP application. While this should be contestable in court, my small town court Ian not taking the chance and hand tabled the petition for eviction. I feel their application isn’t approved, I may screwed. I will be stuck with them for a year. 

Both of my tenants smoke in the building despite my request they not smoke and it being in the lease one of them was willing to sign.  They don’t adhere to quiet hours and they chased out my good tenant.  I inherited these tenants when I purchased the property.  They were not able to be evicted due to covid.  

Lastly, I have an application in for LRAP.  The landlord rental assistance program.  This is for tenants that refuse to apply or have moved out of the building leaving an unpaid rent debt.  No risks involved in this one... however, I don’t have their new address and they change phone numbers as often as they change underwear, about every two months.  

@Bruce Woodruff this is the prevailing attitude with my local court. My court has simply refused to accept ANY eviction related petitions. I bought a home with tenants and want them out. I have no legal lease to do so.

@Anne Wang always take a moment to think about what a tenant has said and weigh your interests vs this information and respond accordingly. I often tell tenants to put any requests in writing or they will not be considered. I then provide a written response. This allows me to mull over requests to ensure I haven’t overlooked something before offering a verbal commitment. I also remind my tenants that the lease is a legally binding contract that we both must adhere to. If I the landlord were to break the lease and no longer provide water to the tenant, they would not be happy. I explain they are free to live in the apartment or live elsewhere for the duration of the lease, but it is their responsibility to pay the rent and maintain heat in the apartment as per the terms of the lease.

I also explain that circumstances change and I am human. I offer to work with them if the need to break the lease. I ask them to ensure the apartment is in tip top showable condition, pay for advertising and pay rent until a suitable tenant that is properly vetted can be found, just as they were. I also explain that the winter is a much more difficult time to turn over an apartment and will likely cost them more in the long run.

It is all part of the fun being a landlord.

@Mark B. Awesome. Thank you for your efforts

@Mark B. And herein lies the problem... how do you file an appeal if there was never a lower court filing or judgement to appeal?

@Maciej G in my opinion you have gone above and beyond with attempting to mitigate the situation.

Did you supply the ac unit? Is it functioning properly? Is it sufficiently sized to cool the space? Is air conditioning required? In my area, heat is required, AC is not. So, if you didn’t supply the ac unit it could just as easily be argued that the unit is failing and pumping heat into the unit creating the condition(tenants fault). Your attempts to increase insulation is more than reasonable. If this guy is an attorney he should be smart enough to know that top level apartments get hot in the summer. And to know that he signed a contract to rent the apartment in the condition it was in. Those conditions did not change by any act of you or anyone else. He decided the conditions were unfavorable.

I don’t think I’d have offered the free months rent. You were made aware of undesirable conditions and made immediate attempts to address the problem through a capitol improvement not just a simple repair.

If it was an ac unit you supplied then yes, it would be your responsibility to ensure it was functioning properly.

I really don’t think he has a leg to stand on in court. You went above and beyond in a short timeframe.

@Mark B. My attorney does not think we can because the petition was never filed in the court with jurisdiction. The court is refusing to accept any petitions.

I don’t know if this is true for NY state. The moratorium on evictions is written with rather vague language and everyone is gun shy about proceeding for fear of the language being interpreted differently and the tenants right being violated. Currently landlords have zero rights.

@Gail K.

So I have offered cash for Keys. These folks have refused entry for repairs and inspections. I provided written notice and was refused but I brought the county sheriffs with me to gain access and made repairs. The damage is being Caused through inappropriate usage of a normally functioning sink.

My attorney has informed me the petition has to be filed in the court with jurisdiction first. If it is dismissed by the lower court, we can then proceed in other courts. However, this court is refusing to allow the petition to be filed.

All notices have been served through process servers and the petition for eviction is for me the owner to take the space as my primary residence, due to heath and safety and lastly for non-payment.